How often do you think of Len Bias? Perhaps you’ve never heard of him, or like me, his name is singed on the edge of your consciousness. And, on mornings like this morning, the haunting story of his life wanders into your mind as you lie in bed waiting for the alarm.
The very reason for why you will never forget him or why you have never heard of him is one in the same. As the following video shows, Len Bias was one of the greatest college basketball players to ever play the game…
Following his last season at the University of Maryland, on June 17, 1986, Len Bias was drafted number two overall by the Boston Celtics of the NBA. That Fall he was to join Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parrish in what many believed would be the first of many championship seasons.
None of this ever happened. Less than forty-eight hours after the draft, Len Bias was dead. Doctors discovered that he had died of an overdose of cocaine. Many who knew Bias believed that this may have been the first time he had ever taken the drug. One moment he was on top of the world; the next, emergency personnel were trying to resuscitate him.
Many in and outside the world of sports know what I mean when I say that I’m haunted by Len Bias. His life is a tragedy from so many different perspectives. His time here was cut short with everyone left behind saying what if and what could have been. Yet, Len Bias’ story doesn’t haunt me so much for the loss to the sports world. Rather, I think of him, and I come face-to-face with the fleeting nature of our lives. I am reminded of when James writes, “What is your life? You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14).
Len Bias appeared front and center on the grandest stage in our culture, yet it was all taken from him by one careless decision. All that remains is the memory of a twenty-three year old man who drifts into my mind at the oddest of times.
This is what distresses me: “…, yet it was all taken from him by one careless decision.”
I’m sorry Michael, but this is ‘one careless statement’. I thought God was the Author of life. This would mean that there is no hope for Len. He not only was responsible for that decision, but every circumstance that led to that point. Try to think about all the implications of your statement. Life is much more complicated than: He made a bad decision and died for it.
David, yes life is more complicated than, “[Len] made a bad decision and died for it.” I think your comments get at the aspect of Len’s story that is so haunting for me.
From the world’s perspective, Len’s story is a tragedy brought about by one careless decision. However, this side of eternity, we can only guess at what Len’s story looks like from God’s perspective.
I may have punched “Publish” on this post too soon; however, I think the ending gets at the haunting place that Len Bias conjures in my mind: The finality of death when viewed from a solely worldly perspective is a bleakness that the natural man often suppresses or ignores. However, God has placed eternity within the hearts of men, and a story like this leaves me yearning for the hope and reconciliation that only Christ can provide.